Winter Spirits
by EternalSpike
Summary: Jack was always alone. His whole life, he's always been alone. Cut off from other people by his powers of ice, he's always been isolated. That is, until a snowman named Olaf finds him freezing to death in an abandoned house in Arendelle. Queen Elsa takes the boy in, but will this do more harm than good? Only time will tell...
1. Chapter 1

Sharp wind and sleet bit at the nose of a small figure trudging through the blizzard. It was garbed completely in winter clothes, complete with fur coat, boots, and hat. A scarf covered the lower half of their face, but the upper half needed to be exposed if they wanted any chance of seeing where they were going. They held their arm in front of their face to try and block some of the harsher parts of the weather, but it didn't do much good.

"We should find shelter," he said to the voice in his head. _Agreed. But I don't see anywhere decent in this blasted storm. _"What about one of these houses…? They look good…" The boy said, his teeth chattering. _Too risky, what if someone lives in them? What if something happens, again? _"It's either we take that risk, or die out here."

The boy trudged toward an old wooden house that was nearly buried in snow. After about ten minutes of digging and swearing, he heaved open the door to the house and crawled in. The massive amount of dust confirmed that this particular house was abandoned, and had been for a long while. _Well that was lucky. Find a blanket or a carpet or something, we're freezing to death. _The boy nodded and dug around the house until he found an old quilt. Shaking the dust and dead spiders off of it, he curled up underneath it, attempting to get some rest. _Get some rest. We need to keep moving towards the Mountain._ The boy nodded once more and yawned, drifting off to sleep.

…

As the sun rose and the storm dissipated, a humming was heard around the abandoned house where the boy made his camp. Of all things, a snowman was wandering around the area, humming a tune to himself. He mentioned something about summer, and then proceeded to leave when he heard a rustling coming from inside the house.

_Get up, quick! Someone is outside. _The boy scrambled to his feet, back to the wall as he stared at the door waiting for it to open….

The snowman was now curiously examining the house. He heard the scramble coming from inside, and attempted to locate the front door. He noticed that the snow in front of the door had been dug away, and he gasped and pulled against the door, and then when that failed, he pushed. The door creaked open…

….and revealed what appeared to be a small snowman. _What the hell…?_ The boy simply stared as the snowman saw him, widened his eyes and declared; "Hello! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!" The snowman then proceeded to hold his arms out as if he was waiting for the boy to hug him. The boy didn't know what to do, and slowly backed away. Olaf raced towards him and stared.

"Wow, you look like something stuck you out in a blizzard for a while. You're freezing to death! We need to get you to a fireplace." Olaf said, looking the boy over.

_I wouldn't trust…whatever the hell this 'Olaf' thing is. _The boy silently agreed and sat down, shivering. "Please leave." He said to Olaf, in a small voice.

Olaf considered that for a moment and then said; "You also look like you can barely walk. I'm gonna go get Kristoff, he'll know what to do." Olaf then turned and left, closing the door behind him.

_Get out of here, quickly!_ "I can't…that Olaf thing was right, the storm took too much out of me and froze my food solid. I can barely stand…" _You know what'll happen if someone finds you, now get up! _The boy took a deep breath and attempted to stand. As he tried to take a step, his leg collapsed from under him and he hit the floor with a loud _thud_. Pulling himself back against the wall, he said; "It's a no go. We're gonna have to trust whoever this Kristoff is." _I hope it isn't another snowman…_

…

After a few minutes, a blonde man shoved the door open and made to run towards the boy. The boy scrambled away from him, screaming; _"Don't touch me! Please, whatever you do, don't touch me!"_ The man halted in his approach and cautiously approached the boy.

"I'm not going to hurt you. You're going to freeze to death out here, so let me help you." He then reached out towards the boy again.

"I said. Don't. Touch. Me." The boy said, backing away into a wall. "I'll come with you. But don't you dare touch me."

The man contemplated this for a second, and then sighed. "Come with me. We need to get you warmed up. He then left, motioning the boy to follow him. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Jack," the boy said as he followed a short distance behind the man. _Hey! Are you a moron?! Don't tell him your name!_ "It's not like it can hurt anything," Jack muttered.

"What? No, I'm not going to hurt you, remember?" The man said to Jack.

"Ah…nevermind. What's your name?" Jack said, trying to change the subject.

"Kristoff. Ah, here we are. Get in." Kristoff motioned towards a sledge with a reindeer pulling it.

Jack cautiously got in the sledge a good distance away from where Kristoff would be sitting. "Where exactly are we going?" he asked, pulling his knees up to his chest.

"The castle. There are good people there; you'll be feeling better soon." Kristoff said as the sledge started moving.

_A castle. Great. Fantastic. That's just fan-tucking-fastic. You see what you've gotten yourself into? _"Shut up…" Jack muttered, trying to not let Kristoff hear him.

"Hm? I didn't say anything," Kristoff said, looking back at him. "You okay back there?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Just…um…talking to myself?" It came out more as a question than a statement. Kristoff raised an eyebrow then turned back to the front.

…

It took about twenty minutes before the sledge was pulling into a courtyard. It was slightly empty, and curiously devoid of snow. Instead, it was laced with beautiful ice patterns. Even the fountains were frozen in a way that made them seem quite majestic. Jack looked around in wonder as Kristoff said; "Come on, we're here."

Jack didn't answer, instead just absently climbing out and following Kristoff. "How…what happened to this place?" He asked in wonder, his eyes wide.

Kristoff laughed and said; "You can thank Queen Elsa for that." He refused to say more, instead just putting off Jacks questions with a vague "You'll see it in a moment."

The castle was quite large, and also empty. "Why is this place so empty…?" Jack asked tentatively.

"Queen Elsa still isn't quite used to large amounts of people. The staff is larger than before, but people still aren't often allowed in the yard or castle." Jack was confused about all this talk. _Who is this Elsa chick he keeps talking about? We don't even know what kingdom we're IN, and we're going to meet royalty. Great. Have I mentioned that this situation just couldn't get worse?_

Jack chose not to answer this time. They arrived in a smaller room with a roaring fire, and Jack gratefully thudded down in front of it, warming his hands and body. It took about three minutes before he noticed there was someone besides him and Kristoff in the room.

There was a couch behind him, and sitting on it was a woman clothed in purple. She had braided red hair that shone in the firelight, and was staring at Jack with undisguised curiosity.

"Umm….hello." Jack said awkwardly, not sure what to do. He never had someone just _stare_ at him before. It felt weird.

"Hi!" The woman said brightly. "You must be the boy Kristoff was talking about. You got caught in that blizzard last night, huh?"

Jack nodded quickly. _Um…who is this chick? _Jack shrugged and went back to warming his hands.

"My name is Anna. What's yours?" The woman, Anna, continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer.

"My name? Oh, uh, Jack. I'm Jack." _You idiot, now you're blushing. _Jack's face became beet read hearing this. "Quiet!" he hissed under his breath so Anna wouldn't hear.

Seeing Jack blush put a huge smile on Annas face. "Well aren't you the most adorable little thing!" She reached out to tousle his hair.

Jack saw the world move in slow motion in those sections. He had let his guard down! He tried to dive out of the way, but not before her hand nearly reached him, and with a flash and a sound of crackling, a barrier of ice had thrown its way in between her hand and his head. Her eyes widened and her mouth made an "O" shape as she pulled her hand back, her shock apparent in her face.

_Nope, I was wrong. It just got worse._


	2. Chapter 2

_Nope. I was wrong. It just got worse._

Anna examined the ice with a look of shock and wonder on her face. Kristoff had run over to her and asked if she was okay.

"I'm…fine. Perfectly okay. Wow…" Anna ran her hand over the ice as Kristoff walked over to Jack, who was slowly backing away from the two of them, his arm in front of his face. "I assume that's why you didn't want me to touch you. Right?" Kristoff said as he squatted down a few feet away from Jack.

Moving his arm, Jack looked at Kristoff and slowly nodded. "I…I can't…help it. If someone tries to touch me…it just happens…" _You may want to start thinking about how the hell we're going to get out of here. Just a thought._ Jack frowned and wished he could scold the Voice without actually talking.

Anna came up behind Kristoff and whispered; "We should probably fetch Elsa. You go, I'll stay with Jack." Kristoff nodded and left the room. Anna sat back down on the couch in front of the fire and motioned Jack to come sit next to her. Jack cautiously approached, to the Voice's annoyance. _You TRUST this girl? What the hell is wrong with you? Have you learned nothing in the last twelve years?_ Jack merely ignored the Voice. Despite its good points, he DID trust this Anna. He couldn't explain it, but he knew inside that she wouldn't ever try and hurt him on purpose.

"So. You have ice powers." She said in a matter-of-fact voice when he sat down on the other end of the couch. Jack nodded. "And I'm assuming you have no control over them….whatsoever." Another nod. "Have you had them your whole life?" At this, Jack became as still and silent as a statue. Sensing she may have touched on a sensitive issue, Anna moved on.

She asked him little things. How old was he? Where was he from? Why was he alone? Jack answered most of these questions in a small voice with short sentences. After around thirty minutes, the door opened again and revealed another woman, with platinum blonde hair that was tied in braid, and sky blue eyes. She looked at the ice, then the boy, then Anna.

The woman walked over and knelt down in front of Jack, staring into his eyes. Without a word, she reached out for Jacks forehead, at which he let out a small cry and pulled back. The woman pressed on, and sure enough, with another crackle and a flash, ice prevented her from getting closer than six inches to Jack. The ice didn't seem to come from anywhere, merely forming around where her hand was going and continuing if she tried from another angle.

She stood up and walked over to the window and looked outside, letting out a sigh. Only then did Jack notice her dress. It was light blue, and it sparkled in a way only ice could. He stood up and walked over to her, staring in wonder at the beauty of the dress made of ice. He saw the light reflecting off of it in the different angles, making it sparkle and shine. He looked at the woman and said; "You have ice powers too. Don't you?"

The woman didn't answer at first. But after a minute, he saw the ghost of a smile playing upon her face as she spoke in a soft voice. "Yes. I do."

Jack pondered on this fact for a moment. All his life he had assumed that ice was uncontrollable, like a mountain lion or a massive grizzly. What did this woman have that he didn't?

The woman looked at him again, and said; "My name is Elsa. And…I think I can help you."

Jack wasn't so sure about that. He looked over at Anna, who smiled and nodded encouragingly. Her, at least, he could trust. He hoped. "I'm Jack."

…

Three months later, Jack was living at Castle Arendelle. That day, the Queen had set him up with a room at the castle. He was never much inclined to leave the room, seeing as people brought him food if he asked nicely, and it was warm. He was used to the silence and the lack of company.

Since that day, he had not seen or heard of the Queen. She said she would help him, but he wasn't quite sure what that meant. Since that day, he had only spoken with one person outside the staff. That was the Princess Anna. They talked for almost the whole day when she did visit, which wasn't often. After all, she _was_ a princess.

The last time was five days ago, when the red-haired Princess came to see him. She said she was concerned for him, as he hadn't left his room at all. Jack wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, as he was quite used to solitude. So, he went with his default setting and avoided the topic, moving on to other things.

Jack looked out the window. Winter had begun to break. The fjord was thawing, the ice in the courtyard melting. People milled about in the streets, cleaning snow off the roads and walkways, chipping ice off the windows. He had been hearing whispers from the staff that there was to be some kind of _party_ soon. Jack spent hours mulling over what a _party _was. What a strange word, he thought.

_It's probably some kind of code. They've kept you locked up in here for months; maybe they're going to kill you._ Jack shook his head in exasperation. The Voice had constantly been paranoid, reprimanding him about trusting the Queen and her friends, chiding him for accepting to stay at the castle. "I'm not locked up in here. I'm free to leave the room as I wish. I simply don't." Jack said pointedly, and the Voice shut up.

Jack heard a _tap tap tap-tap tap_ at his door and jumped. "W-who's there?" he called out.

"It's me! Anna!" Jack heard the warm voice of Princess Anna outside his door. "Oh. Come in." He said. _Have you noticed, she always knocks the exact same way? It's different from all the others._ The Voice chimed in. Jack blinked in surprise as the door opened. He hadn't noticed that before.

Anna came in and sat down on the bed, swinging her legs. She was wearing a green and brown dress with her hair tied up in a bun. Jack stared for a minute with his head tilted to the side slightly. Anna stared back. After a second Jack realized what he was doing and blinked, looking away. Anna giggled. "You blinked! I win!"

Jack smiled. It was impossible to be his usual stoic self around Anna's bubbly personality. "What's with the extra-formal hair?" He asked in his quiet voice. "You usually wear it in a braid."

Anna ran her fingers through her hair and said "It's for the party dummy! Haven't you heard? It's today!" Anna jumped up and did a little twirl. She stopped when she saw the confused look on Jack's face. There's that _party_ thing again, Jack thought. "You…do know what a party is…right?" Anna said, trying to hold in a giggle.

Jack shook his head, slightly embarrassed. Anna burst out laughing and automatically reached out for his arm to pull him along. He recoiled and Anna stopped short. "Oh...um...sorry," She mumbled. They stood around for a few moments, with Anna swaying side to side looking embarrassed at herself. Jack smiled. "You were going to show me what this _party_ thing is?" he prompted. Anna thought for a second, then got a big grin on her face. She motioned him to follow and ran out of the room.

Jack laughed and followed her. _This girl has to be at least six or seven years older than you, and she acts like a five year old!_ The Voice said in a mocking tone. "Shut up." Jack growled. He wasn't exactly in the mood for this.

"Come on come on come on!" Anna was saying, smiling. Jack grinned again and ran after her, struggling to keep up. How the hell does she run so fast in _heels_?! Jack was thinking to himself as he ran.

They stopped in a ballroom where the staff were busy setting up tables piled high with food and drink. Jack stared dumbfounded at one of the tables. "Is that a _chocolate fountain_!?" he exclaimed. Anna nodded, smiling. "Elsa's favorite." She said. After a moment of consideration, she followed it up with; "And mine." Jack laughed again.

As Anna dragged him around the castle to show him the various preparations for what was apparently a large gathering of people where there would be dancing, music, and food, Jack couldn't help but have his eyes almost exclusively glued to the girl in front of him. He had never been close to anyone before, let alone be _friends_. Although he had only talked to her a few times before now, they were long and meaningful talks. He had never spoken to someone before that didn't want to kill him. It was that day when he realized that he thought of Anna as not only his friend, an actual friend, but as an older sister. That acted like a toddler. Jack hated the Voice sometimes.

It was around noon when Anna looked at the clock and let out a squeal of delight. "The party! It's gonna start sooooon!" She danced around in place a little as Jack smiled at her.

_You do realize that you __**both**__ look like idiots, right?_


	3. Chapter 3

_You do realize you __**both**__ look like idiots, right?_

Jack shook his head, smiling. Better a happy idiot than a depressed scholar, he reasoned. "So, I have to ask," he said to Anna as they walked along the hallways back towards the ballroom. "What exactly is the party _for_?"

Anna giggled. "It's a celebration of springtime. Arendelle celebrates both the beginning and end of winter now."

Jack had a puzzled look on his face. What was the point of celebrating a season? "Why do you celebrate that? It sounds boring," Jack said, still trying to work it out. _Maybe they're, I don't know, completely crazy?_

Anna whirled and looked at him. "You mean you _don't know_?" she asked, a look of shock on her face. Jack shook his head, causing Anna to stand there for a few seconds, her mouth in a perfect 'o' shape. She then began leading him down the halls in a different direction.

…

They reached a door that Jack had not yet seen. Anna knocked her knock on the door, and from inside he heard the voice of Anna's sister, Elsa. "What do you want Anna, I'm busy!" she said, obviously occupied with something else.

"Yeah, you know the thing that happened last year? Apparently, Jack doesn't know about it." Anna said through the door.

Jack was quite confused. "Um…what happened last year?" he asked tentatively.

"Shush." Anna said, waiting for a response from her sister.

As if in response, the door opened a crack, revealing half of Elsa's face. "Anna. I am very busy, and this is _not_ that important. If you want to tell him the story, be my guest."

"But I thought you'd want to tell him. Seeing as you thought he already knew, and that him knowing is kinda key to what you wanted to do with him." Anna said to her, apparently oblivious to the fact that Jack was standing not three feet away.

Elsa sighed. "You tell him your side of it. Then, after this party is over and everyone leaves, I'll start with him. Now shoo! I'm very busy!" The door shut then, and Anna led a very confused Jack away from the area.

_Um…what the hell just happened?_

…

Jack sat down on a couch in yet another new room. Anna stood by the window.

"So," she said. "You want the short version, the slightly shorter version, or the long version?"

Jack went with the short version. He wanted this over with, as he was bursting with curiosity.

Anna launched into her narrative. "So, basically, my sister Elsa was born with Ice powers that grew stronger and stronger until one day when we were kids she apparently accidently hit me with her ice powers and nearly froze my head so my dad took me to the trolls and they made me better but they warned my dad and Elsa that Elsa's powers were only going to get stronger and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Jack said. "Slow down. You lost me about halfway into that."

"Oh, aha, sorry." Anna said, running her fingers through her hair. "Where was I? Oh, right. Anyway…

"My father decided that it would be best to isolate Elsa until she was able to control her powers. So, she stayed in her room. _All the time_. Then, when we turned sixteen, they went on some trip that I can't even remember now, and, well, their boat sunk. At this point, Elsa was terrified of herself.

Fast forward a few years and Elsa comes of age and becomes Queen. On the day of her coronation was the first day the gates were opened and I actually saw other people. So, I maaaay have made some...questionable choices.

I met this guy. Hans. And I _thought_ it was love at first sight, but we'll get back to that tidbit. Anyway, he proposed and I said yes. No. Don't say it. No comments. Shut up.

Anyway.

We tried to get Elsa's blessing which, predictably, backfired. She got mad, I got mad, and pulled off her glove. Did I mention she wore gloves? ….I didn't? Oh. Well, she wore gloves to help conceal her ice powers and I pulled one off. Oops.

So she got even more angry and may or may not have blasted some ice at everyone. Ehehehe. Um…yeah. So, Elsa ran away and kinda set off an eternal winter. Did I mention this was in the middle of summer? No? Well, middle of summer, she set off eternal winter, blah blah blah.

So, I decide to chase after her, which is how I met Kristoff and Sven and Olaf, and we found her, but she accidently struck my heart with her magic, which isn't as easy to fix, so I tried to find Hans to kiss me, and….what? Oh, right. Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart. So I needed Hans. Or…I thought I did.

Anyway, it turned out that Hans was only using me, ouch, and he didn't love me at all. So I was kinda screwed. But then Kristoff came back, and Olaf said that Kristoff loved me, so I should kiss him.

But while I was trying to find Kristoff I saw that Hans had a sword and was gonna kill Elsa, who was on the ground for some reason, and I ran and stopped the sword. Oh, how? Well, um, I kinda froze under it. And it broke.

Then Elsa hugged my frozen statue body, and I melted! Then I punched Hans in the face, Olaf didn't melt, Kristoff got a new sled, and a year later, here we are!"

Anna finished with a big 'whew' and a smile. "And that is why we celebrate the beginning and end of winter!"

Jack still didn't get it, but he didn't want another long winded story.

A knock on the door caused them both to jump as one of the servants said "Ma'am, the party will be starting shortly. Are you coming?" Anna squealed, and ran out of the room. She then turned back and poked her head through the door to make sure Jack was coming.

They made their way towards the ballroom with Anna always about ten feet ahead of Jack, and as they arrived the ballroom was already full of people. Jack managed to break off from Anna and found an unoccupied corner and sat down in it, watching.

_I don't think our lovely princess thought this whole 'bring the uncontrollable ice powers to the party where there will be LOTS OF PEOPLE' thing through._

For once, Jack agreed with the Voice. This wasn't going to be easy.


	4. Chapter 4

_This…isn't exactly going to be easy_. Jack nodded and huddled into his corner, watching. He saw near the front of the room the telltale platinum blonde hair of Queen Elsa, and next to her the bright copper hair of Princess Anna, with a confused look on her face. "Sorry," Jack muttered to himself.

_Well, should we bail? Or should we stick around and watch? I rather like Option Number One, myself._ "We can sit it out. I think." _Well, it's your head. _

Jack had to move multiple times as people looked his way and made to approach him. Better to be seen a ghost of the castle than to cause issues, he reasoned. Moving between the crowds was harder than he thought, and he often employed the hall or drapes as ways to maneuver around unseen. He just couldn't get close to anyone. _This…is…ridiculous_. The Voice muttered as Jack made a particularly tight squeeze between the wall and a table, crouching.

After about 45 minutes of nonsense, Jack officially gave up and made for the front of the room to locate the Queen and Princess. He located Elsa first.

"Excuse me, um, Queen Elsa? Could we talk for a moment?" he asked her in his quiet voice. He got lucky and caught her when people _weren't_ thronging around her. Elsa turned in surprise and, after seeing who it was, motioned him off to the side of the room.

"So, how are you enjoying the party?" Elsa asked, smiling. "It's lovely isn't it?"

"No. Not really." Jack said flatly. Elsa frowned. "You seem to have forgotten a minor…detail." Jack said, reaching out towards her on purpose, causing a small barrier of ice to stop his hand.

"Oh, you don't have to worry! The people here are quite aware of ice issues. They're quite accepting of them." Elsa smiled again and made to leave, when Jack stopped her.

"Their 'acceptance' is not my concern. Their safety, however, is." Elsa turned with a puzzled look. Jack sighed. "Walk with me. Please."

…

The balcony they stood on overlooked almost all of Arendelle, the people bustling around in the cool spring air. Jack looked over the rail, his hands behind his back. Elsa stood next to him, waiting for him to say something.

"I have no more control over my powers than the rabbits do over the sun." Jack stated. "The ice thinks, moves, and acts on its own. It interprets any living thing that would touch me as a threat."

"If the perceived threat backs off immediately, the ice waits. And then stops. That is why you have not seen what it can do, no one has pushed it."

Elsa waited silently. There was obviously more to this story, and she was curious.

"…I killed my own mother. I was born, and she attempted to hold me. The ice did not agree. She was stabbed through the heart before she could even name me."

"My father was the only person who didn't immediately cry out against me. His family had a history of associating with Sorcery, and it must have been where my powers came from. However, he tried to teach me to harness them. But I couldn't. While I was a baby, he had to get quite creative on how to feed and water me. Once I was five or six years old, he began trying to teach me.

Nothing worked. The ice refused to cooperate, and I could not summon it at will. Then…when I was seven, it happened. Four men broke into our house, saying I was possessed. They had knives, and planned to kill me.

I killed them, Elsa. All four of them. The ice stabbed and froze them to death. All because I cannot control the storm.

That was the day my father snapped. I ran away, and the whole village began hunting me. A few days after I ran away, they found me and approached me with torches, pitchforks, and knives. At the head of the pack was my own father, murder in his eyes.

….I do not know if he is still alive. The ice killed at least a dozen more people that day. Whether or not he was one of them, I do not know. But I do know that I am still hunted. Word spread from village to village that a demon was loose in the wild, and it seemed like an army was on my tail.

I am almost thirteen years old, Elsa, and I have experienced more death and hate than any person ever should." Jack finished. He stared into space for a few minutes.

"I understand if you do not wish to let me stay any longer. But you have the same curse as I, and I want to know how you coped. How you learned to control it. Because I don't want to hurt anyone, not ever again."

Elsa was quiet, her mind spinning. She couldn't throw the boy out. But at the same time….he had killed fifteen people. But not of his own accord.

"You will be allowed to stay. For now." Elsa said quietly. "But you will cease all interactions with the people save myself and Anna."

"Why her? She has no powers; she can't understand this…this curse." Jack said with a bitter tone in his voice.

"Firstly, she won't listen even if I try and keep her away from you. Secondly, she understands more than you think, Jack." Elsa said, a small smile playing on her face. She turned to go inside, and then stopped. "In a week, we will travel to a place where there should be someone to help you. Be ready."

Jack nodded, a haunted look on his face.

…

Jack woke with a start, screaming. He saw their faces, heard their screams. He saw….he saw…..

_Red blood…..white snow…_

…

"Jack? Jaaaack. JACK!"

The boy woke to someone shouting his name. A copper-haired girl stood at the foot of his bed and was shaking it. Bed…girl…Anna?

Jack sat up. "Oh. Hello Anna," he said, surprised. "What is it that you want…?"

Anna tutted. "Don't you remember? We have a field trip. Get your stuff ready if you have any, we leave in an hour."

Jack sat there for a minute, then remembered. Elsa was taking him somewhere. And apparently Anna was coming too.

_I hope they aren't messing with you, for your sake and mine._

Jack nodded as he pulled on some clothes Elsa had given him. As he looked out the window he saw that spring had now fully broken, and Arendelle was full of life. He made his way towards the main hall where Anna and Elsa were waiting.

"Come." Elsa said, motioning Jack to follow her. They walked out into the main courtyard where there were horses waiting. Jack mounted his horse, careful not to get too close to his companions. He had discovered a few years back that the ice ignored some animals like horses. Maybe the ice knew they were useful to Jack or something, he could not tell.

And so they rode. For the rest of the day, Jack heard naught but the thundering of hooves along the ground. As they rode, Jack wondered where they were going that would help him…

…

Night had fallen by the time they reached their destination. A grove of trees with a clearing of stone in the middle, with various rocks strewn around.

Jack dismounted and walked around, curious. _Where…are we?_ The Voice had a tone of wonder in it for once, when it usually showed annoyance.

The ground began to rumble and shake as the rocks started rolling towards Jack. He turned to run, but rocks were surrounding him from all sides. _I told you! They're killing you here, just watch_.

As the rocks got closer, the air suddenly cooled around Jack. A group of rocks got closer and closer, and as soon as they got within a few feet, Jack felt the familiar rush of cold air, heard the loud _crack_, and saw the glittering ice form a dome around him that the rocks hit with a thud.

Then the rocks _changed_. They became short….things. Short green things that backed away in shock at the ice.

Elsa strode forward and said to Jack; "Welcome. To the Grove of Trolls."

_Balls._


End file.
